Self-cleaning strainer arrangement for dishwashing machines



25, 1953 o. M. ANDERSON 2,649,765

SELF-CLEANING STRAINER ARRANGEMENT FOR DISHWASHING MACHINES 3 Sheets-S heet Filed July 18, 1946 0504 P M A NDEPSO/V Aug. 25, .1953 o. M. ANDERSON 2,649,765

SELF-CLEANING STRAINER ARRANGEMENT FOR DISHWASHING MACHINES s Sheets-Sheet- 2 Filed July 18, 1946 0504/? M ANDE/P5ON Aug. 25, 1953 o. M. ANDERSON SELF-CLEANING STRAINER-ARRANGEMENT FOR DISHWASHING MACHINES Filed July 18, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 G m V w a a W 1 1 a W 3 MM u l f & ma 4 a w:

gvwe/wto'v OSCAR M ANDERSON Patented Aug. 25, 1953 UNITED STATES SELF-CLEANING STRAINER ARRANGEMENT FOR DISHWASHING MACHINES Application July 18, 1946, Serial No. 684,423

5 Claims.

This invention relates to dishwashing machines of the character wherein the dishes, pans, et-c. located within a washing compartment are subjected to sprays of water delivered under pressure from a spray device or nozzle by a fluid circulating pump, the inlet of which is connected to a sump located at the bottom of the washing compartment, there being in the sump a dumpable strainer and there being in the line between the outlet of the pump and the nozzle a valve for selectively establishing connection between the outlet of the pump and the nozzle, and between the outlet of the pump and a drain.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved arrangement wherein the valve 7 and the strainer are operated by a control member or handle in such sequence and in such manner that, after the'washing operations have been completed, the strainer is. inverted to dump the particles of matter deposited thereon into the valve, during the draining operation the dumped particles of matter cannot find their way to the nozzle and clog the same, but, on the other hand, all of these dumped particles are discharged through the drain. Further, since the strainer is turned back to its original position after the machine is drained so that the same face of the strainer is always uppermost during washing, the possibility of the undumped particles of matter sticking to that face being carried by the Water to the nozzle after a recirculating condition has been reestablished is minimized, which would not be the case if the strainer remained in its inverted or dumping position. V

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement wherein the water in the nozzle or spray device and the pipe leading from the outlet of the valve to the spray device is drained to the sump when the valve is shifted from recirculating position to sump draining position, so that this water is gotten rid of and objectionable stagnation and smells resulting therefrom are prevented.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure l is a side view showing somewhat diagrammatically a dishwashing machine in which the improvements of the present invention are embodied;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1 and shows in plan elevation the sump, strainer and pump;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 through the lower portion of the sump and through the valve; and

Fig. 4 is a left-hand view of the parts shown in Fig. 2, portions being broken away.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the cabinet or casing having a washing compartment in which is located a nozzle B which, in the present instance, is conventionally shown as being in the form of a perforated pipe mounted for rotation about a vertical axis so as to afford a rotating spray when the water is forced through the nozzle. Th cabinet may have in its front Wall an opening through which the trays (not shown) of dishes and utensils may be inserted into, and removed from, the washing compartment, the opening being closed by a door C of suitable type. The letter D designates the sump attached to and depending from the bottom wall of the washing compartment and the lower portion of this sump delivers to inlet 8 of a fluid circulating pump E having an outlet 9 connected through a valv F to an upright pipe G leading to the nozzle. Within the sump'is a perforated disk-like strainer H carried by the pivot til and pivot or shaft l I suitably journaled in the wall of the sump so that the strainer may be turned 180 outlet it to which a drain pipe I9 is connected.

The valve has a circular valve head or plug 2% closely fitting Within a circular chamber in the valve casing and this'valve plug has a passage 2i leading from the bottom of the plug to the pe- 3 ripheral wall thereof. The inlet end of the passage registers with inlet 16 of the valve casing (see Fig. 4) and the outlet end of the passage is adapted to be selectively registered with the outlets l1 and I8 to respectively establish a recirculating condition and a draining condition. For the purpose of draining the nozzle and the pipe G when the valve is shifted to sump draining position, the valve casing has a supplemental outlet 41 connected to the sump by a tube 42, and the valve plug has in its outer peripheral surface a groove 43 so located and of such length that, when the valve is in sump draining position, the groove will provide an open connection between the outlet l! and the supplemental outlet 4 I, and, when the valve plug is in recirculating position, th outlet AI is closed. Extending upwardly from the valve plug and journaled in the top wall of the valve casing is a stem 22 secured to the lower end of a shaft 23 which carries at its upper end a control member or handle 24. When the shaft 23 is turned in one direction (clockwise referreing to Fig. 2), the valve plug is shifted to draining position and, when turned in the other direction, the plug is shifted to recirculating position.

Referring now to the arrangement through which control shaft 23 operates the strainer, there is mounted on the lower end of the shaft a gear which meshes with a gear 3! fixed to the strainer shaft ll, these gears being in the ratio of approximately 1 to 2. Between the control shaft 23 and the gear 30 is a lost motion connection which permits shifting of the valve prior to tilting of the strainer. In the present illustrative disclosure, this connection comprises a pin 33 radially projecting from the shaft and operating between two lugs 34 and 35 extending upwardly from the gear and angularly spaced apart approximately 90. For the purpose of releasably maintaining the strainer in its normal straining position during Washing operation and in its inverted position during the draining operation, the periphery of the gear 3| is provided with two diametrically opposite notches 31 in which is adapted to engage a spring-depressed detent or plunger 38 mounted on the valve casing.

During a washing operation, the plug of the valve 15 is in an angular position at 180 to that shown in Fig. 3 and in which position the outlet of the pump is in communication with the pipe G through the passage 2| in the valve plug, and the supplemental outlet 4| is blanked. The pump will withdraw the water from the lower portion of the cabinet through the strainer and the sump and deliver it through the valve to the nozzle from which the water is discharged in sprays onto the dishes, etc. During the washing operation, particles of food washed from the dishes collect on the top surface of the strainer. The washing operation or operations having been completed and it being desired to drain the machine, the control handle 24 is turned clockwise (referring to Fig. 2) through an angle of approximately 180 and, during the first 90 of this movement, the valve plug is shifted to such an extent that the valve outlet I1 is closed and then the pin 33 picks up the lug 34 and, during sub stantially the last 90 of movement of the operating handle, the shifting of the valve to drain position is completed and the strainer is turned in one direction through 180 so as to dump the particles which have collected on the top surface thereof into the sump. When the valve is shifted to drain position, shown in Fig. 3, an open connection between th pipe G and the tube 32 is established through the groove 43 of the valve plug so that water in the pipe and nozzle will be drained to the sump. The pump being in operation, it will suck the water and the dumped particles of matter from the sump and force them through the valve into the drain pipe Hi. It is again pointed out that, since the valve is shifted to such an extent that the recirculating connection is broken before the strainer is dumped, the possibility of dumped particles of matter finding their way to the nozzle is largely eliminated. The draining operation having been completed, normal positions of the valve and strainer are reestablished by moving the handle 26 counterclockwise through to its original position. When this is done, the strainer is reverted to its original position after initial shifting of the valve and then the shifting movement of the valve is completed so as to establish a recirculating condition. Clean water may nowbe admitted to the lower portion of the cabinet and washing operations proceeded with. It is noted that, during the dumping operation of th strainer, the strainer is turned in one direction through 180 and during the operation of the restoring of the valve to recirculating position the strainer is turned back through 180 to its original position, so that the same face of the strainer is always uppermost during washing operation. This is of advantage in that, should any particles stick to that face when the strainer is dumped, these particles, when the strainer is reverted to normal position, will be on the top face of th strainer and, therefore, will not be Washed off into the sump during a washing operation, as would be the case should the strainer remain in the inverted position, in which event the particles would be sticking to the under face of the strainer and could be easily washed off.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scop thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a dishwashing machine, a cabinet having a washing chamber, a nozzle in the washing chamber for directing sprays of water against the articles to be cleansed, a sump at the bottom of said chamber, a fluid pump having an inlet connected to said sump, a connection between the outlet of the pump and said nozzle, a valve in said connection including a valve member having a recirculating position where the outlet of the pump is in fluid communication with the nozzle and a drain position where the outlet of the pump is in communication with a drain, a strainer adapted to extend entirely across said sump, means for pivotally supporting the strainer in the sump to provide an axis of rotation extending transversely and centrally of the strainer and the sump, and manually operable control means including a shaft connected to the valve member for shifting said valve member from recirculating position into drain position and motion transmitting means connected to the means pivotally supporting the strainer and having a lost motion connection with said shaft for inverting said strainer to dump particles collected thereon after the valve member has been shifted from recirculating position and for reverting the strainer and shifting the valve member back to recirculating position.

2. In a dishwashing machine, a cabinet having a washing chamber, a nozzle therein for directing sprays of water against the articles to be cleansed, a sump at the bottom of said chamber having a single outlet, a fluid pump having an inlet connected to said outlet of the sump, a connection between the outlet of said pump and said nozzle, a valve in said connection including a valve member having a recirculating position where the outlet of the pump is in fluid communication with the nozzle and a drain position where the outlet of the pump is in fluid communication with a drain, a perforated plate-like strainer in said sump pivoted for turning movement through 180 and having its axis of rotation extending across the sump, and manually operable control means including a shaft connected to said valve member and motion transmitting means connected to the strainer and having a lost motion connection with said shaft for inverting said strainer to dump particles collected thereon into the sump after said valve member has been shifted from recirculating to substantially drain position and for reverting the strainer to its original position after the valve member has been shifted from drain position to substantially recirculating position.

3. In a dishwashing machine, a cabinet having a washing chamber, a nozzle therein for directing sprays of water under pressure against the articles to be cleansed, a sump at the bottom of said chamber, a fluid pump having an inlet connected to said sump, a connection between the outlet of the pump and said nozzle, a valve in said connection having a valve member adapted to be turned between a recirculating position where the outlet of the pump is connected with the nozzle and a drain position where the outlet of the pump is connected with a drain, a perforated horizontally-disposed strainer in said sump arranged to be turned in one direction to dump the particles collected thereon into the sump and to be turned in the other direction to restore the strainer to its normal straining position, operating means including an operating member connected to the valve and movable between a first position in which the valve is in drain position and second position in which the valve is in circulating position, means for selectively turning the strainer to dumping or to straining position, and means driven by the operating means at the extremity of movement of the operating member for actuating the turning means.

4. In a dishwashing machine, a cabinet having a washing chamber, a nozzle therein for directing sprays of Water against the articles to be cleansed, a sump at. the bottom of said chamber, a fluid pump having an inlet connected to said sump, a connection between the outlet of the pump and the nozzle, a valve in said connection having a valve member arranged to be oscillated between a recirculating position where the outlet of the pump is in fluid communication with the nozzle and a drain position Where the outlet of the pump is in communication with a drain, a strainer in said sump pivoted for turning movement in opposite directions between an inverted position and a reverted or straining position, a manually operable shaft connected to said valve member for reversably moving the same between its said positions, a gear loose on said shaft, a meshing gear fixed to a pivot of said strainer, and a lost motion connection between said shaft and strainer constructed and arranged to turn said strainer to inverted position after the valve member has been moved out of recirculating position and to move said strainer to reverted position after said valve member has been moved out of draining position.

5. In a dishwashing machine, a cabinet having a washing chamber, a nozzle therein for directing sprays of water against the articles to be cleansed, a sump at the bottom of said chamber, a fluid pump having an inlet connected to said sump, a connection between the outlet of the pump and the nozzle, a valve in said connection having a valve member arranged to be oscillated between a recirculating position where the outlet of the pump is in fluid communication with the nozzle and a drain position where the outlet of the pump is in communication with a drain, a strainer in said sump pivoted for turning movement in opposite directions between an inverted position and a reverted or straining position, a manually operable shaft connected to said valve member for reversably moving the same between its said positions, a gear loose on said shaft, a meshing gear fixed to a pivot of said strainer, a pin extending from said shaft, and a pair of angularly spaced lugs on said gear with which said pin is adapted to alternately engage.

OSCAR M. ANDERSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,335,925 Tutsch Apr. 6, 1920 1,508,041 Winton Sept. 9, 1924 1,675,192 Murdock June 26, 1928 2,111,038 Adams et a1 Mar. 15, 1938 

